Elsa & Olaf

I am sat in my new  bed this morning with a sore back and the start of a cold, looking out over the slightly misty field as its just getting light. Paul has got up with the little early birds so i get to spend an hour or so resting before he goes to work.

Last night i finished a little cable knit jumper for baby Alex and even though i have plenty of crochet projects on the go i only ever have one knitting project to do as i am a slow knitter, so i get to decide what i want to start today. Today is going to be a lazy day, probably a pj day. The house work was done (and then undone by the kiddies!) yesterday so apart from Sunday dinner in time for Paul getting home from work all i can see is a day full of nothing. But i am going out tonight with my friends from the gala committee. yay!!!

So this week has been all about Elsa from Frozen. I did a craft fair the other week and needed a new design that would catch peoples eye. Queue Frozen... I haven't seen the film and neither have the kids ( which judging by the way people look at me when i say that seems to make me a bad mother!) but have now ordered it as a Pressie for the days before Christmas as one of the ways to keep them entertained. I did what i always do and googled about to get some inspiration and then started on the hats. People often ask me where i get the patterns from but i make them up as i go along. Its one of the things i love about crochet that once you have made a few things and can work out how to increase and decrease and make different shapes you are half way there.

They proved really popular and i have made one after another of these this week and i have more to do for next week. The orders had sparkles on and sparkly ribbon at the end. Molly loves to wear it to school mainly as she likes the attention she gets i think!

Well then i had to make one for the boys so here is olaf

I have had some more crochet lessons this week which means more time in hatters for the kids which is never a bad thing and even Alex is learning to love it.

In between all the madness this week Paul we took a little trip to the park on a gloriously sunny day. Its nice that Paul has one day off during the week so we can go places with the little ones, then at weekends the bigs ones can do there things

I love this picture, Fred is such a daddys boy.

Well off to get knitting plus judging by the noise downstairs my quiet time is up and i better go and rescue Daddy!

xxx

Owl Blanket ta-dah!

Now baby Alex has moved out of our room and into his big cot in Molly's room, i wanted him to have a new blanket just for him for his new cot. I posted before about redecorating Molly's room with a woodland theme so it would be nice for each of them. So i wanted something with an Owl on so it would match the theme, plus i love all the cute little owls there are out there to crochet.

Then  found the most adorable blankie had have seen, i found it via Ravelry on the Red Heart website and wanted to start it straight away and as we were going on holiday i decided to have a go at didn't away along drive.

The blanket part its self was very easy and worked up quite quickly, however we were so busy on our hols that not a lot got done and when i got back it was out a side as i wanted t finish some other things i had on the go.

I picked it back up eventually though and made a start on all the leaves and flowers which i had thought would take forever but were surprisingly quick and easy.

I had a night where i had agreed to baby sit for my friend and this gave me a fantastic opportunity to get on with stitching it all together in peace and quiet with no distraction ( thanks to her very good and fast asleep kids!)

I managed invisible stitches so i was really please with myself as some times in a rush to get things done i can be a bit sloppy with finishing off, but i am learning to be more patient and realizing what a difference it makes, because after all if you have out so much effort and time in you want it to be the best it possible can be

Then it was done... ta-dah!

The pattern link is here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/whoos-my-cutie-blanket 

I would love to know if some of you are going to give it a try.

I taught two lady's to crochet yesterday and this was what they wanted to do so i have started them off and i can't wait to see hoe they get on.

bye for now xxx

Hallo-b-ween

I don't know why i call it that but hallo-b-ween is what its been since the kids where born, i am forever making up words for different things, much to the annoyance of the teachers at school who once called me in to say that my eldest was not saying words correctly "tinternet", "Nursaberry" "Omputer" to name a few. She did laugh when i explained it was my fault and i kept changing words, its just in front of the kids and not every word obviously, but since my telling off i have stopped all but a very few and trust me the kids know its a little joke and that they are not real words. But i like it its a cute little language just between us.

 This year it was at the end of half term, unusually for us we had stayed quite close to home, having days with family and friends as opposed to our usual outings here and there. I think as we had been really busy with things recently it was nice just to chill and hang about. They ended up playing with toys they had not had out for ages and its great to see them play and use ether imaginations and Fred loves them being at home. There were lots of crafty moments

 And family moments ( and this is just a few of them!)

 And one trip to the illuminations ( including fish and chips! yum)

(Selfie in the car)

 Woolly moments ( Of course!!!!) This was not even half of it but it was fun sorting it all out and i have donated some to the school for crafts.

Then finally it was Halloween, apart from a pumpkin i don't usually decorate the house but this year i decided to start a new tradision with the kids and get some decorations in. The kids had a friend each from school come round and we went trick or treating which we do every year. This year it was quite warm for the time of year and the kids could go without there coats and show there costumes off 

Freds first time going to the doors and he liked it, Knock on door get chocolate!

he wouldn't wear a costume so i put Alexs little ghost hat on him.

Then as i was uploading the photos for this post i discovered this picture of the field opposite my house i had taken it on the morning of Halloween as its was the first time the field looked really wintry, but as put it on here i saw it.... can you see it too!!!!!!

Boo!

Bye for now and thank you for looking xxx

Gagets and gizmos

Over the last couple of weeks i have been trying out some new gadgets. I have wanted an embroidery machine for a long time, but they are very costly, even second hand, so i decided to buy one of the little Disney applique machines i have seen on e-bay, to see if it was something i would actually use and not just a novelty.

It was really really easy to use , so much so that i wondered if perhaps it was meant for kids to use, so i brought in Molly to have a go and she absolutely loved it. Big brother Ewan thought it was rubbish, till he saw Mollys finished results, then changed his mind and wanted a go himself much to Mollys disappointment.

 This picture pretty much says it all!

 The results were fantastic and these were done to iron into there school coats.

Next i had some orders for big pom pom hats so decided to invest in a pom pom maker. Again they are so easy so i let Molly do the pom poms for the hats.

I finally got round to ordering a wool winder, even Fred had a go at this, till he wound it back on its self and tangled the machine up

This little invention i found in Wilkinsons, it a row counter! which is so helpful when you are knitting cables like i have this week.

These little gadgets have been great this week and i love little finds that make things easier or neater.

Hopefully have some ta-dah moments in my next post xxx

Illuminasia

I am currently sat downstairs with a very weazy baby, its that time of year when little people start getting colds and usually spread them to me. I have been sat here browsing ravelry and planning my next project since 4am. Even though he is now asleep in his little chair i can't sleep, i would love to sit and work on the Aran jumper i am currently making him but am not really awake enough for that as its the kind of knit that require a bit of concentration as there is nothing worse than taking a look at the pattern only to discover 10 rows ago you made a mistake. Today is Fred's nursery morning so if Alex went along with it i could have gone back to bed later, but i can't as today i am running a crochet workshop at Madhatters which is another new venture i will tell you about another day.

Last weekend Paul should have been off, but ended up having to work, so feeling more than a bit miffed, i decided that me and the kids were going out anyway, even though the prospect of taking four children out on a Saturday is a very exhausting and costly business! Ewan had brought home a discount voucher for Illuminasia, the night before from school which made it only £5 per person instead of £12.95 do it was a done deal, off we went on the bus.

We arrived to find they had no idea about the vouchers and they were not valid till next year, why send them out now then? after some....discussion about the face there was no date on the leaflet which luckily i had with me, they apologized and let us all in for £12.95 when with the voucher it wold have been £15 so i was happy, Then just as we were about to go in i was told i could have that money back and have a free visit!!! even better. so here it is Illuminasia Blackpool

 The little ones loved it, as it was so bright and colorful

 You can see how big the displays were

 Time for McDonalds on a quite warm prom

 It was really busy in Blackpool

That was our weekend hope you had a good one too xxx